Investigation of the driver circuit for high-voltage cascode GaN device

GaN device has more potentiality over Si-based device in high frequency and high power density applications, but even a very small parasitic parameter makes the device hard to drive at MHz switching frequency. In practical applications, the leaded packages are still dominant because of their simplicity for PCB assembly and the capability for a wide variety of heat-sinking techniques. In this paper, the performance of driver circuit for high-voltage cascode GaN device in leaded package is evaluated. The reasons for oscillation on gate-source voltage are investigated and analyzed in details. Then the current source driver method is adopted to clamp the gate-source voltage and improve the driving performance, shortening switching period and reducing switching loss.